Behold the amazing gift of love
the Father hath bestowed
On us, the sinful sons of men,
to call us sons of God!
Concealed as yet this honour lies,
by this dark world unknown,
A world that knew not when he came,
even God's eternal Son.
High is the rank we now posses,
but higher we shall rise;
Though what we shall hereafter be
is hid from mortal eyes.
Our souls, we know, when he appears,
shall hear his image bright;
For all his glory, full disclosed,
shall open to our sight.
A hope so great, and so divine,
may trials well endure;
And purge the soul from sense and sin,
as Christ himself is pure.
the Father hath bestowed
On us, the sinful sons of men,
to call us sons of God!
Concealed as yet this honour lies,
by this dark world unknown,
A world that knew not when he came,
even God's eternal Son.
High is the rank we now posses,
but higher we shall rise;
Though what we shall hereafter be
is hid from mortal eyes.
Our souls, we know, when he appears,
shall hear his image bright;
For all his glory, full disclosed,
shall open to our sight.
A hope so great, and so divine,
may trials well endure;
And purge the soul from sense and sin,
as Christ himself is pure.
I once heard Rev. Frank Harrington (of blessed memory) share what his mother used to say to him whenever he left the house. She would say, "Remember who you are. Remember who you are."
This is a passage about remembering who we are, and whose we are.
Verse two is particularly facinating and hope-filled:
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. [ESV]John can only imagine...
1Barclay, William. The Letters of John and Jude. New York: Westminster John Knox P, 1976. 72-73. ↩
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